Pipe-laying machine.



N. ANDERSON.

PIPE LAYING MACHINE. APPLIOATION FILED MAY 12, 1911.

1,028,523, Patented June 4, 1912.

: I o a w I 2 i E L 5 I l J I J Nils Anderson, awe/MM, I

collUMBlA FLANOGRAFH co.,wAsrllNGTON, D.c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NILS ANDERSON, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

PIPE-LAYING MAGHIN E.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J line 4, 1912.

Application filed May 12, 1911. Serial No. 626,825.

ous trenches or tunnels in which to lay them.

It is the object of my invention to provide in a machine of this class an improved means for gripping the pipe, whereby the gripping pressure upon the pipe is automatically proportioned to the force necessary to push it through the ground.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for guiding the pipe, and means for imparting a slight rotary movement thereto as it advances through the ground.

A further object of my invention is to provide a pipe-gripping device which may be set over the pipe after the same is in position to be driven, thus avoiding the necessity of passing the pipe endwise through the device before placing it in position.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a machine embodying my invention, Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, Fig. 3 is an end view thereof, and Fig. 4 is a detail of one of the gripping jaws.

In carrying out my invention I provide a frame consisting of the base-bars 1, the upper tie-bars 2, the arched cross-bars 3, and the lower cross-bar 4, all of which are permanently secured together by suitable rivets or bolts. The base-bars 1 have formed at each end thereof a loop or eye 5 through which stakes may be driven to secure theframe in position in the trench from which the pipe is to be driven. At the center of the upper or horizontal transverse portions of the arch-bars 3 the same are bowed slightly downward to form a channel for receiving and guiding the pipe A. On the lower crossbar 4 are secured upwardly extending lugs 6 adapted to receive between them the lower ends of the forked lever or yoke 7, of which the said ends carry pins 8 adapted to fit removably into the notches in the lugs. A removable lever-handle is provided having at the end a socket adapted to fit over the upper end 9 of the yoke, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

The yoke 7 is connected by means of the links 10 with the ends of the bar 11, and to said bar are pivotally connected the rearward ends of the toggle-links 12 and 13.

The forward ends ofsaid links are pivotally connected with the ends of the toggle-levers 14 and 15, and the latter are pivoted upon the tie-bar 16 of which the end portions are bent to form rectangular hooks passing around the outer sides of the toggle-levers as shown in Fig. 3. On the inner sides of the toggle-levers at the front ends thereof are formed recesses in which are pivotally disposed the toothed jaw-pieces 17, the same being permitted to have a rocking movement sufficient to enable the toothed faces thereof to lie parallel with each other when the :levers are spread apart more or less to accommodate dllierent sizes of pipes. A coil spring 18 has the ends thereof connected with the bars 11 and 16 and normally pulls said bars toward each other, thus tending to spread the toggle-links and levers outvWardly and to closethe jaw-pieces in upon the pipe.

In theuse of the machine the frame is secured 1n position in the trench by driving down stakes through the eyes 5 formed at the ends of the base-bars 1. The pipe A is then laid upon the frame and the yoke 7 is set down over the pipe, the forked portion straddling the same as shown. The connected ends of the toggle-links and levers are then pushed toward each other so as to open the jaws sufliciently to enable them to pass down over the pipe, while the bars 11 and 16 rest upon the upper side of the pipe and the toggle-links l2 and 13 rest upon the transverse portion of the front cross-bar 3. The removable lever handle is then set over the upper end 9 of the yoke 7 and the yoke is moved back and forth by means of said handle. The front end of the pipe may be provided with a sharp pointed plug to facilitate its passage through the ground. The movement of the pipe is further facilitated by imparting to it a slight rotary movement, and such movement is caused by the following means: The toggle-links 12 and 13 are made of greater depth at one end than at the other, the thick end of the link 7 thereof. The other link 12 being shown in Fig. 2

' close the jaws upon the pipe so that the pipe is gripped with a force proportional to the force necessary to push it through the ground. During the rearward movement of the toggle device the pull upon the links tends to open the jaws so that they will readily slide back over the pipe. After a section of the pipe has been pushed forward as far as possible, the yoke and toggle device may be lifted oif the frame, another piece of pipe laid thereon and connected with the first section, after which the toggle device and yoke may be replaced on the frame over the pipe and the pushing operation continued as at first.

By making the frame, the toggle device and the lever-handle separable, the handling of the machine in moving it from place to place is greatly facilitated, and, owing to the fact that the toggle device may be placed over the pipe after it is laid upon the frame, the machine may be operated with facility in trenches no longer than the lengths of pipe to be driven.

Now,having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine of the class described, a frame, a pipe-gripping device adapted to be placed over a pipe from one side thereof, and a lever fulcrumed on the frame and connected with the gripping device for actuating the same.

2. In a machine of the class described, a

frame adapted to support a pipe, a forked lever fulcrumed on the frame and adapted to straddle the pipe, and a toggle device having jaws adapted to grip the pipe, the toggle device being connected with the forked lever and being open at one side so as to adapt it to straddle the pipe from the same side as the forked lever.

3. In a machine of the class described, a pair of transverse bars,-resilient means connecting the same, a pair of links connected with one of said transverse bars, a pair of levers fulcrumed on the other transverse bar and each connected at one end with one of the links, and pipe-gripping jaws carried at the other endsof the levers.

4;. In a machine of the class pipe-supporting frame, a pipe-gripping device, a lever fulcrumed on the'frame and connected with the pipe-gripping device for reciprocating the same, and means on the.

gripping device engaged by the frame to rotate said device during its reciprocating movement.

5. In a machine of the class described, a pipe-supporting frame, a lever removably connected therewith, a toggle-lever pipegripping device connected with the lever and adapted to straddle a pipe supported on the frame, and means on the gripping device engageable by the frame to rotate said device during longitudinal movement thereof. 7

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

NILS ANDERSON.

lVitnesses A D. O. BARNELL, J. E. TITUs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. c.

described, a r 

